


Open Water

by kyokitty



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: F/M, based on a tumblr prompt, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-18
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-29 18:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1008438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyokitty/pseuds/kyokitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonia is a confined, lonely mermaid who happens to be completely fascinated by a human named Gundam Tanaka. Upon meeting, they develop a close bond that is threatened by a dark outside force, set on splitting the two apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Sighting

She’d been told countless times not to do it, it was against the rules, it was dangerous. But she couldn’t resist any longer.

  
It wasn’t like she was going to do anything horrible. There was a nice spot where long rocks and caves jutted out far into the water, a safe distance from the shore. She wasn’t crazy enough to go straight on to dry land and possibly get caught. All she wanted was to see one human, just one. Then she’d go back and behave like her father and Souda always told her to.

  
That was the downside of being a mermaid princess – always having to follow rules, acting proper, and worst of all not being allowed to have fun. Well there wasn’t a rule strictly forbidding fun, but it seemed like her father might as well make one considering what she was and wasn’t allowed to do.

  
But she’d managed to lose Souda, bless his clingy and overprotective soul, and decided this was probably going to be the only time she could even possibly see a human.  
So now here she was, hiding behind one of the many large rocks scattered around the peninsula that jutted out into the sea. Only crazy people would dare go to its edge, but she figured maybe some daredevils would wander her way.

  
Nothing yet. So the mermaid waited, swishing her green tail back and forth to keep herself afloat, the sunlight shining on her long golden hair. Some fish would swim by her and circle around her tail playfully, causing her to giggle.

  
Despite that, it seemed like no one was ever going to come. Perhaps she’d chosen a bad day, it was a little chilly today after all.

  
Just as she began to head back underwater, something weird happened.

  
A whole pod of seals hurriedly swam by her, heading towards the peninsula she’d been watching for so long. They seemed rather excited, bumping into each other and making delighted noises. Maybe there was a school of fish nearby.

  
The mermaid peered from behind the rock to see where they were headed only to immediately hide back behind it.

  
There was a human. An actual human.

  
She’d been so shocked she hid on reflex, but after a moment of deep breathing, she dared to look again. They were so far away it’d be almost impossible to see her, but she decided to play it safe.

  
It was a he, she could tell it was a male by the broad shoulders. He seemed well dressed for the weather, covered in what looked like heavy clothing. Funny, she’d always heard that humans didn’t wear too much when they came to the water because they wanted to be as similar to mermaids as possible when swimming. She thought it was silly and it seemed this human agreed with her.

  
He’d sat down at the edge of the rock, his legs dangling a few inches above the water. Oh, she’d heard about legs and now she could see them. So strange, they looked just like two tails… only they were made for land.

  
Her tail twitched, as if envious of the human’s legs. They were so weirdly beautiful, she just wanted to touch them…

  
Such thoughts were interrupted by seals barking and the mermaid was shocked to see that they were barking at the human. She watched as he reached in a container next to him and pulled out a fish, tossing it at one of the seals. The others barked at him more and he obliged them all, making sure to give each one a fish.  
Now it made sense as to why they were so excited to get over there.

  
Her father always said humans were evil, hunting anything that moved in the ocean and attempting to slaughter the whole race. Yet this one, despite having dead fish, was helping the seals. Maybe he was a different kind of human.

  
Once he was out of fish, the human looked out into the water, scanning to see if any other wildlife was going to join him. He noticed a flurry of movement and focused on the area. Nothing came up though, so he got up from his seat and began to head back home.

  
Meanwhile, a terrified mermaid had just hastily hid behind a rock, her heart racing because a human had practically looked right at her. Hopefully he hadn’t noticed… It didn’t seem like it since he got up to leave. She was relieved and disappointed at the same time.

  
Her father would kill her if she interacted with a human, but she’d been quietly hoping that maybe he’d see her and not be afraid. He’d already shown he was different, so maybe he’d treat her differently, too.


	2. Accidental Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I apologize this chapter is short and quick, but I just really wanted to get right into the plot. After this, things will go a bit slower and hopefully be more interesting ^^

Only a few minutes after her encounter, the mermaid was caught. The moment the merman spotted her he began swimming rapidly towards her, his yellow tapping flailing about as if he was being chased.

“Princess Sonia, where have you been?!”

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she kept swimming towards home. Souda had always been a dear friend, but he’d grown really clingy now that they were older. It was out of the goodness of his heart, but it still annoyed the hell out of Sonia. 

“I was just exploring.”

She hoped that would be enough for him to drop the subject, but it didn’t seem like that was the case. 

“Exploring?!” he yelped, “Were you… Were you at the surface?!”

He was met with silence, which meant that she felt too guilty to admit that he was right.

“Sonia! You know you’re not supposed to do that, it’s dangerous! If your dad found out I let you go to the surface while you were with me… he’d have my head!”

Souda tugged at his hair, thinking maybe some would fall out due to all this stress Sonia was putting him through. He loved her dearly, more than she would ever know, but sometimes she seemed to enjoy putting him through all this misery.

“Souda, calm down!”

She looked around quickly, making sure no one was around that might have heard them. Luckily, they were too far out and seemed to be alone aside from a few schools of fish. 

“It wasn’t like I did anything horrible,” she muttered, “I just… Okay, if I tell you, you have to keep it a secret, or I’ll make sure that Father has your head.”

The merman gulped. Sonia sure was beautiful, but sometimes the words that came out of her mouth completely contradicted her sweet appearance.

“Um, okay… I promise.”

Sonia looked around again, just to be extra careful. There was no way she could let anyone else hear this.

“Alright… I went up and… I saw a human!”

She clasped her hands together, not even noticing the horror that filled Souda’s face.

“It was wonderful! There was only one, but oh! Souda he had legs and they were so beautiful…”

After a bit more of Sonia’s retelling of her encounter with the human, Souda managed to recover from shock and immediately yell at her.

“Are you insane?! You saw a human?! Sonia, I can’t believe you, I mean I have to tell your father…”

A terrified Sonia halted, wheeling around and grabbing Souda by the shoulders. 

“You can’t! You promised! Please, Souda, I just had to see one! Please, for me…”

And there was that heart melting gaze she gave him whenever she wanted something. He knew that she had taken advantage of this look and knew that he should be stronger than that and just say no. But he wasn’t. He crumbled under the pressure and nodded meekly. There was no way to say no to her.

“Thank you!”

She wrapped his arms around him and hugged him tightly, but he was too mad at himself for being a pushover to hug her back.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But now that she’d seen a human, Sonia couldn’t get enough.

She went back to that same spot every day, always hiding behind rocks to make sure she wasn’t seen. And sure enough, the same human came every time. Sometimes he brought some weird flaky substance that the fish seemed to like and other times he brought fish for the seals or dolphins. 

After a few days, she’d grown brave enough to move to closer rocks and had actually been able to hear him speak. His voice was extremely deep and he had a funny way of talking that made Sonia smile.

He’d say things like, “My nautical companions, I have come to offer you sustenance and hope you shall accept it, for it is the best I was able to encounter.”

It was all just a bunch of big, fancy talk so Sonia assumed he had to be a prince of some sort, maybe even a king. If she were to judge based on looks, that would most certainly be the case.

She couldn’t quite put her finger on any specifics, but he was terribly handsome. Perhaps it was his odd hair that looked like the wind had swept it up and made it stick there. Or maybe it was his eyes… but oh, she couldn’t see his eyes very well from this distance…

Ah, that was better. She could see now, his eyes were two different colors. Red and grey… how odd. The two orbs had now locked on something and were wide open. Sonia blinked confused and suddenly realized she’d made a grave mistake.

In her curiosity, she’d completely forgotten about her cover and waded out closer to the rocks. He’d been too interesting, she couldn’t help herself! Now she was directly in front of him, staring up at him as he stared down at her, mouth open like he was about to scream.

She gasped and immediately dove back into the water, swimming away as fast as she possibly could.

Souda was going to kill her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I jumped right in to them meeting. I didn't want to just have a bunch of filler, so I figured I'd get to the good stuff as soon as possible. Also, unrequited love for Souda, poor guy. But yay, chapter two is up and now we get to all the greatness that is sondam!


	3. Nice to Meet You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, longest chapter yet! Yay, we are moving forward with plot and content, praise the lord. I know this is updating very quickly right now, but I wouldn't expect it to continue like this (unfortunately). I can only think of so much so quickly and then put it into words. But anyway, have fun with what I have now!!

For some unknown reason, Sonia didn’t swim very far. In fact, she only went back to hiding behind her original rock. She knew she should’ve gotten out of there, that this was stupid and dangerous and she was going to regret it… but she had to know what he thought. He’d seemed surprised, but not scared of her. Why was that?

After a moment of thinking intensely, she dared to peek her head out from behind the rock. Low and behold, the man was still looking out at the water, scanning it frantically. 

Upon seeing her face again he stopped, blinking several times.

'It’s too late to turn back now, just do it!' she told herself.

Sonia took a deep breath and cautiously waded closer to the human, watching him to see how he’d react. Again, he didn’t look scared, just extremely confused. By the time she had reached the edge of the rock he had managed to close his gaping mouth.

For a moment they just looked at each other, as if they didn’t believe the other was actually there.

“Do… do you speak, most heavenly creature?”

Sonia tilted her head curiously. He still spoke in his weird manner, but now he didn’t seem as confident as when he spoke to the fish. 

“…Yes.”

The man’s eyes widened. He’d thought it had been a hallucination, but now that she was speaking back to him he had to accept the fact that she was there. 

“Do you have a name, sea goddess?”

She smiled at that. Not only did he think she was a goddess, but he wasn’t completely terrified of her. He was just asking her a normal question. 

“My name’s Sonia… may I ask yours?”

The man hesitated, still unsure if all of this was actually real. But it most likely wasn’t, so there was no reason he had to hide anything. 

“Indeed I do, it’s a name you best remember! Gundam Tanaka, the man who will one day rule this planet!” 

Sonia giggled, amused by his eccentric attitude. She moved to float in the water on her back, her fins breaking the surface. Gundam’s eyebrows shot up, but he still didn’t run away.

She really didn’t want to scare him off, so she decided that she should talk to him and try to make things as normal as possible.  
“That’s a lovely name! May I call you Mr. Tanaka?”

He didn’t speak, but nodded weakly, still overwhelmed by the whole situation. So he continued to sit there dumbfounded, entranced by this creature’s beauty.

“I’ve never seen a human before…” she admitted meekly, “What’s this?”

She rose up slightly out of the water, reaching for the end of his scarf. Gundam’s eyes widened upon seeing that her breasts were concealed only by her golden locks and he immediately averted his gaze. Sonia figured she must’ve bothered him and sunk back down into the water.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to upset you, Mr. Tanaka!”

“You did no such thing, fair creature. However, I must warn you that venom courses through my veins, and coming into contact with my flesh may result in your untimely death.”

That made her frown and rise back up a little, resting her upper body against the rocks and looking up at him with a sad expression. 

“I wasn’t trying to touch you, but that piece of cloth… and I’m not sure about you being full of poison, I’ve never heard of humans like that.”

He looked back at her, not expecting that almost pitiful look on her face. Now that she was covered better, he wasn’t as flustered when he spoke. 

“I’m no mere human and no mortal has ever survived my deadly touch.”

It took a moment for him to consider what he said next, unaware of how the mermaid would respond. 

“Though, I suppose you are no mere mortal…”

That seemed to make her perk up and she smiled brightly at him, her tail swaying back and forth happily beneath the surface. 

“If it’s alright, Mr. Tanaka… I would like to possibly touch your legs… I’ve never seen legs before!”

Gundam hadn’t seen that one coming. He’d never had to deal with such a beautiful woman approaching him and asking to touch his legs. This was too weird now, it had to be a dream, so he should just keep playing along. 

“I suppose since those limbs are clothed that it will be safe for you to touch them…”

Before he could even finish Sonia had grasped one of his legs in her hands, lifting it up and inspecting it from different angles. A flustered noise escaped his throat, but he quickly regained his composure. He had no idea what to do, there was a mermaid playing with his legs and there was no one else in sight to confirm that he’d lost his mind for good.

“They’re not like tails at all!” Sonia exclaimed as she bent his leg at its knee, “They can only bend one way and they aren’t very soft at all… But that’s wonderful! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

She squealed with delight, letting go of his legs to flip herself back into the water, Gundam watching confused. Had touching his legs really made her that happy? Suddenly she popped back up in front of him, still giggling.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Tanaka! Ah, if you would like to, you may feel my tail as well.”

As she spoke, she lifted her tail out of the water, flicking it towards him to encourage him to go ahead and feel it. After all, he had let her feel his legs, so she ought to return the favor.

Gundam stared at it fascinated, admiring the deep green color that probably helped her camouflage amongst seaweed and the murky waters. It was amazing, but he had to shake his head upon her offer. 

“I could never risk poisoning such a rare specimen. It is best that you remain untouched, for I could never forgive myself if I were to harm a being such as yourself.”

Sonia’s tail sunk back into the water, but Gundam’s words had touched her. Even if she didn’t believe he could actually hurt her just by touch, he didn’t want to harm her. What had her father meant when he said that all humans were evil monsters determined to hunt mermaids to extinction? This man certainly wasn’t like that.

As she tried to process the contradiction that was Gundam Tanaka, Sonia noticed that the sun had moved a significant distance from when she’d first broken the surface. If she didn’t get home soon, her father would start to get suspicious and possibly send someone to find her… That couldn’t happen. 

“Oh no, Mr. Tanaka, I must go now!”

She began to dive back into the water, but stopped when Gundam called after her. 

“Wait! Will I see you again, divine creature of the waters?”

Sonia smiled and nodded excitedly. 

“Yes, I’d love to! I will return to this spot at the same time tomorrow! Will you be here?”

His face felt suddenly warm and his throat seemed to close in on itself, so he could only nod in response. 

She beamed and waved goodbye before diving back into her reality.


	4. Quality Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gundam's a dork, that's really all you need to know.

“That’s amazing, Mr. Tanaka! How were you able to tame such a ferocious beast?!”

Sonia was listening intently to Gundam’s story, her eyes wide with excitement. He’d told her how, even though humans were blessed with legs, they often didn’t travel around on them. Instead, Gundam had managed to capture and tame a hideous creature, one that bellowed smoke and had the loudest roar anyone had ever heard.

“Pah! Have you forgotten? I’m the mighty Gundam Tanaka, Ruler of Darkness! No beast is a match for my power, no matter how hard it resists!”

The mermaid gasped, flapping her tail. This really was so exciting, she could hardly contain herself!

“I didn’t mean to question your mightiness, Mr. Tanaka! It just sounds like such a fearsome monster…”

“It truly is a horrid beast, you are correct in those regards. However, most mortals are able to make the automobile bend to its will at some point, thought it often takes many long years. Being more than mortal, it didn’t take me long at all to conquer it and I now take my automobile whenever I am beckoned by some sort of earthly presence.”

“How wonderful! You truly are blessed with such power!” 

Gundam blushed at the compliment, hiding his face in his scarf. He hadn’t believed that the mermaid would show up again (after all, he’d just been dreaming) but she’d been there every day for the past week, always curious about his stories and listening to him talk for hours on end. 

He’d never had to deal with such admiration from mortals, so it was rather nice to have enjoyable company to spend time with, even if it was from a mermaid. To be honest, it only made sense that an otherworldly being would be the one to understand him – mortals were too foolish to comprehend his genius. 

Sonia had started swimming around in an attempt to release her energy, splashing her tail and sending a spray of water directly at Gundam. He sputtered, suddenly removed from his thoughts, and attempted to wipe the water off of himself.

“I’m sorry!” Sonia said sheepishly, “I got a bit excited…”

Hmm, his reaction to the water hadn’t been what she’d hoped. He almost seemed to dislike it, even though he was next to it all the time. 

“Mr. Tanaka, do you like the water?”

She swam back over towards him, rising up to rest on the edge of the rock he was perched on.

“How could you not? It is the source of life on this wretched planet and without it, even I would perish.”

“I meant do you like to be in it… Like swimming?”

His eyebrows shot up. This wasn’t a topic he exactly enjoyed and it was the last thing he wanted to talk about with a mermaid.

“Such a task has never been of importance to a godly being, it’s too trivial. My time has been devoted to more important things and –”

“You mean you don’t know how?”

She gasped in shock. How could someone not know how to swim? It was so natural and she knew humans were capable of it (at least her father had told her that was true) so why was Gundam unable to?

“Here, I can teach you!”

Sonia rose up out of the water to grab at the sleeves of his jacket since he was still so opposed to skin on skin contact. She started to pull him forward but he’d panicked and flailed his arms about, managing to pry them from her grasp. 

“That’s highly unnecessary, sea goddess! There is no purpose for a being like myself to submerge in the water, I am much more well-suited to land!”

Of course he wasn’t flustered by how close she’d gotten to him, that certainly wasn’t why his face was so red. And he most certainly wasn’t afraid of going into that cold, dark water, no sir. 

Sonia frowned; she’d really been looking forward to teaching a human how to swim. That would have been so much fun! Instead of him teaching her, she could become the teacher… He noticed how he’d seemed to upset her and quickly attempted to apologize. 

“Perhaps at another time, heavenly creature. For now I am not prepared for such an endeavor, I am not even clothed with the proper attire.”

So all he needed were some special clothes? That wasn’t too horrible. In fact maybe she could teach him tomorrow! Sonia squealed and flipped back into the water, spraying Gundam again. But this time a small smile formed on his lips instead of a scowl. At least he’d given her some form of joy. 

“Yes, that would be wonderful!” she exclaimed, “Could you bring this proper attire tomorrow? I would be honored to teach you how to swim!”

Ah, he hadn’t really expected her to be so eager or to suggest so soon of a date. It wasn’t likely that he’d be able to conquer his fear in a day.

“Forgive me, but I doubt I will be able to so soon. Another time, maybe within the next few weeks… Though I assure you, I will accept your offer at some point. It would be cruel to disappoint you in such a way.”

That wasn’t a problem for Sonia. At least he’d accepted her invitation. But now she wouldn’t be able to wait! It’d be so much fun and maybe he’d even allow her to touch him and… 

Wait why was her heart racing like this? It had never done so in the past. It must just be the excitement of spending more time with Mr. Tanaka. 

“Mr. Tanaka, could I come up to join you?”

Another curious look from Gundam. Come up here? Did she mean to sit beside him?

“I see no problem with that request, you may commence.”

A smile lit up her face and she placed her hands on the top of the rock to lift herself out of the water. It was kind of a long way up, but she managed to get up there, resting herself next to Gundam. She made sure to keep part of her tail in the water to avoid possibly drying up. 

But it was kind of hard to sit up straight and keep herself in the water, much to her disappointment. So she scooted a little closer to the edge of the rock and then laid down, resting her head in Gundam’s lap. The man made several surprised noises and his face got very red again, but he didn’t object, merely hiding himself in his scarf again. 

“I hope this is alright, it’s just much more comfortable this way,” she explained.

Gundam made another unusual noise and just nodded, looking the opposite direction. This mermaid was trying to seduce him, damn her tempting nature. But he’d by lying if he said it wasn’t having any effect on him. 

Unaware of how she was making him feel, Sonia began to request that he tell her another story, when she caught sight of something in the water. It was a small movement, Gundam probably hadn’t even seen it. But there was no doubt in Sonia’s mind that she’d seen a tail flick out of the water for just a moment. She would’ve assumed it’d be a dolphin, but the fluke was similar to that of a shark, which meant one thing.

“Mr. Tanaka! You must leave now!”

She sat up quickly, pushing him so that he’d stand and hurry away like she told him to. Gundam had just gotten used to having a beautiful creature lay in his lap and suddenly that was over and instead she was pushing him away. Women were such fickle creatures.

Although he didn’t know her reasoning, he got to his feet and looked down at her. 

“Have you been harmed, fair maiden? Did my venom seep into your veins?”

Sonia quickly shook her head and continued to push at his legs to get him away. 

“No! I am alright, but you must go now! Please!”

Normally he would’ve argued about how no one told Gundam Tanaka what to do, for he was to be ruler of this world. But the desperate look in her eyes made him reconsider. 

“As you wish.”

He nodded and began to head back towards shore so that he could return home, which had become more and more lonely every time he returned. No matter, he would come back to visit this temptress mermaid tomorrow despite the risk. 

Sonia heaved a sigh of relief, glad that the usually stubborn human had listened to her. Now she had other problems to deal with. She dove off of the rock into the water, searching for the threat she had spotted.

Of course, it didn’t take long, the creature was waiting for her, a smug grin on its face.

“Please don’t tell anyone!” Sonia begged before the other could speak, “And… and leave the human alone! I won’t let you hurt him, Junko!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And look at that, first villain has been introduced. Yay! Plot is starting to go places~  
> Anyway thank you all for your support and feedback on this fic, it helps me out a lot! I know this didn't update as fast as the other chapters, but it was a bit longer and I really want to develop Sonia and Gundam's relationship as much as possible, so forgive me if it takes a while for the actual Sondam to start happening.


	5. Keeping Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Junko, who's still just as crazy underwater as she was at Hope's Peak.

“Oh Princess, you judge me so harshly!”

Junko offered a melodramatic pout, but Sonia wouldn’t fall for it. There was no trusting Junko. Unlike Sonia, Junko happened to be a siren – a much more deceptive creature.

There was little difference as far as appearances between the two went; the only real way to tell whether one was a siren or a mermaid was to look at its tail. Sonia, like all other mermaids, had a tail like a dolphin’s in the sense that it moved up and down when she swam. Junko had a more shark-like tail that moved from side to side. Other than that, mermaids and sirens were almost physically identical. 

“It wasn’t like I was going to interrupt you and your secret lover,” Junko teased.

Sonia blushed and was about to argue that Mr. Tanaka was not her lover when Junko cut her off. 

“Besides, he didn’t look very tasty anyway.”

That knocked the blush right out of Sonia’s face. 

“I forbid you from touching him, you monster! What you do to humans is bad enough and I won’t let you take Mr. Tanaka away!”

The siren’s sharp white teeth gleamed as she grinned, Sonia becoming slightly nervous. Sirens were horrible creatures that would charm innocent men at sea and then drag them down into the depths to feast on their bodies. It made Sonia shiver just thinking about it. 

“Oh, so you know his name? How scandalous! What if the king were to find out his precious little girl was spending all her time with a dirty human?”

If that were to happen, Sonia would most likely never be allowed to leave her room for the rest of her life. Worse, she’d have to face an angry and disappointed father who forbade her from even speaking the word “human.”

“You wouldn’t!” Sonia challenged, “It’s not like he’d believe you, anyway! You know you’re not allowed back anywhere near the kingdom.”

Junko sighed and reached up to stroke a strand of her peach colored hair. In a sense, Sonia was right. Sirens and mermaids rarely got along, and Junko had only seemed to push that stereotype further. She seemed to get a kick out of other people’s misery and so she had tormented countless mermaids until she’d finally been captured by the king. There were even rumors that she’d used magic to cause such mayhem, but Sonia knew they were just rumors. So now she had become the most infamous siren in the sea, one that all mermaids made sure to avoid if they ever ventured to far. But Sonia had a secret to keep and couldn’t just let Junko swim away and possibly tell anyone. 

“Maybe he wouldn’t believe me,” Junko admitted, “But, he’s very serious about those nasty humans and if his little girl was associated with them, you don’t think he’d be even a tad curious? He’d have to prove that I was wrong, only to discover the truth.”

Sonia bit her lip. No wonder this girl had gotten banished, she truly was cruel.

“What do you want from me, Junko?”

The siren smirked and flicked her tail back and forth before circling Sonia in a predatory manner. 

“Why do you people always think I’m out to get something?” Junko asked.

Sonia was tempted to tell her that she was almost always after something, but held her tongue. She was just trying to be dramatic and there was no point in helping her along with this show.

Junko frowned, but continued speaking.

“I don’t want anything from you, princess. You see, we outcasts need to stick together.”

“How dare you compare yourself to me!”

The siren flashed her teeth and flicked her tail out again to intimidate this bratty little mermaid. 

“We’re more alike than you think,” Junko explained, “We both are outcasts. I’m not allowed anywhere near your kingdom and have been condemned to a life of solitude. You, on the other hand, want to get out of there. You’re the weird girl who doesn’t belong in her own home. You’d rather sprout legs and go off with that human boy, wouldn’t you?”

Sonia wanted to deny it, she really did. But the thought of having those beautiful legs and being able to walk with Mr. Tanaka and not be so different… it truly sounded like a dream.

Junko grinned, knowing all too well that she had been right. 

“And that’s why I don’t want anything from you. Both of us are alone here and that means we watch out for each other. Right?”

Sonia snapped out of her daydream and locked eyes with Junko. There was nothing but honesty in them, and Sonia didn’t really have any other choice.

“Right…” Sonia spoke quietly, “But… but you must leave him alone!”

Junko put her hands up defensively and shook her head.

“I wasn’t gonna do anything, you’re so quick to judge! Just keep our little meeting a secret and I’ll keep your little boyfriend a secret, too.”

The siren offered her hand and Sonia eyed it suspiciously. Well she had an easy end of the agreement to keep up, so…

She took her hand and shook it quickly, immediately pulling her hand back. Junko squealed and somersaulted in joy as if she’d just been announced queen. 

“Wonderful! Now I must go, but remember our secret!”

Before Sonia could even speak, Junko had swum off as quickly as possible, her black and white tail going back and forth, back and forth…

Sonia gulped and began to swim home, not liking the sinking feeling that was forming in her stomach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohmy gosh, sorry for the delay on this chapter but there were so many routes I could've taken this and I had to constantly debate what way to go and finally decided on this. Hopefully it's acceptable? I should update soon so it won't be as long of a wait (I hope)


	6. Making Deals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo look at that, finally updated! It's been a while but hey, longest chapter so I get some credit right? Right?

At first, Sonia was worried that Junko wouldn’t keep her promise and go tell everyone that she was spending time with a human. She wouldn’t put it past the siren considering thatshe was known for being conniving and just an overall bad person.

But nothing happened that would indicate she’d gone and told.

Sonia’s father didn’t treat her any differently and Souda remained his normal obsessive self. So there really wasn’t anything to worry about. She could continue to see Mr. Tanaka and not have to worry about getting caught. 

However, the princess was in the dark about a few things. 

For one, her intuition about Junko was absolutely right – that girl was not to be trusted. She’d only been quiet in order to concoct a much worse, more despair-inducing scheme that would be significantly more enjoyable to watch unfold. All she had to do was be patient and wait for the opportune moment. 

Secondly, Junko hadn’t been the only one to notice Sonia and Gundam’s encounters. Though they always made sure no one was around, the two seemed to forget there was an entire ocean that could see them, and that sometimes people were out in the ocean. 

One such person happened to go out rather often on his private sailboat, enjoying solitude from the idiots of the world. At first he’d never really paid any attention to anything outside of the boat, since the whole point was to get away and just be alone. But one day, after looking through his telescope to see how far he was from for shore, he spotted something peculiar. 

A man was sitting out on a rocky formation rather far from shore, looking into the water. It wouldn’t have been so odd if someone hadn’t actually been in the water looking back up at him. Upon closer inspection, the sailor was able to discern a tail and fin, much to his disbelief.

Although he did not believe in fairy tales or anything so silly, if it was a reality than it was certainly acceptable. Especially if he could capture something so rare and possibly sell it for countless amounts of money. Yes, that would certainly be alright. The only difficult part would actually be obtaining this creature. 

But Sonia had no idea that any of this was going on, so you could imagine her surprise when Junko suddenly showed up as she was on her way to visit Gundam. Great, now she was probably going to threaten to reveal her secret just like she had feared. 

“Hello, Junko.” 

She tried to act like this was nothing normal, but meeting notorious sirens wasn’t something she considered very normal and therefore gave her a bit of a problem when it came to acting naturally. 

“Hello, Princess! I’ve been looking for you actually, you see I’ve been thinking…”

Well that couldn’t be good. This was obviously a bad idea and Sonia should just swim away, but maybe she’d tell everyone the secret and… she couldn’t risk that. So she stayed.

“Thinking?” Sonia inquired, “About what?”

“About how you were nice enough to keep our deal even though almost no one else would ever do such a thing.”

A reminder of how Sonia had stooped so low to keep a secret with someone like Junko wasn’t something she wanted to be reminded of. But she continued to listen, hoping the siren would make some kind of a point. 

“Since you were so nice, I thought I’d grant you a wish.”

Junko revealed something from behind her back: a small vial filled with a black liquid.

Of course this immediately caught Sonia’s attention. 

“Okay, I’m gonna explain before you can ask me all the questions.”

Junko shook the vial a little bit and shoved it in Sonia’s face. 

“This is a potion I made, and not just any potion. Oh no, this potion will do something unbelievable… Wanna know what it’ll do?”

Sonia eyed the vial, knowing very well that this was a bad idea and she should leave right now, but man was she curious. 

Junko grinned when Sonia nodded and launched back into her tale. 

“This potion will turn you into a human!”

Sonia’s gasp was enough to assure Junko that the princess was hooked.

“Are you serious?!”

The siren nodded, giving the vial another shake. 

“Absolutely! But there is a bit of a catch…”

Of course. Nothing so good ever came easy. But being a human… Sonia was willing to do anything, even if it meant giving her voice up or something silly like that. She just wanted to be on land and feel the sun and be able to walk with Mr. Tanaka and the other humans. 

“If you want this potion to be permanent, you must be kissed by your true love within a week. I figured three days was too short and if I gave you ten days you’ll probably lose a guy, so seven was a good medium.”

Junko smirked, proud of how clever she was. 

“And I don’t know if this guy you’ve been talking to is your true love, but if not, oh well! Still gotta find him in a week! Otherwise you’re a mermaid again. And he’s got to kiss you, not the other way around.”

Sonia nodded understandingly, her eyes fixated on the vial. All she had to do was be kissed by her true love. So did that mean her true love was human? Was it Mr. Tanaka? This was all so much to handle at once. 

“If you ever get tired of being human – which I don’t think you will – all you have to do is go back into the ocean. Simple, huh? You’ll be able to get wet on land if it rains or something, but you go into the ocean and that tail will come right back. Got it?”

Sonia nodded eagerly and attempted to grab the vial. Junko pulled it back and shook her head, giving Sonia a disapproving look. 

“Not so fast, princess. We haven’t talked about payment.”

Again, Sonia should’ve figured that this wouldn’t be so easy.

“Now, if you get kissed, then your happiness with your man is payment enough for me!”

It was almost painful to lie through her teeth like that, but Junko managed to do it with a smile on her face.

“But if not, you are to take me to your kingdom so I may have an audience with your father. That’s all.”

That was suspicious. 

“All you want… is to talk to my father?”

Junko laughed, throwing her head back.

“I’m not as horrible as everyone says, you see? And I would’ve asked sooner, but I thought I should do something nice for you if I want you to do something nice for me.”

Junko offered her free hand and arched a brow.

“Do we have a deal?”

Sonia looked at Junko’s hand for a long time, thinking and staring and contemplating. 

“So if I get kissed, I’m a human forever. If not, then I come back so you can talk to my dad?”

“In simple terms, yes.”

There really didn’t seem to be any kind of downside to this arrangement. So Sonia shook Junko’s hand, knowing that she’d been wanting this for a long time and shouldn’t be questioning how she got it.

Junko beamed, delighted the little princess had fallen into her trap, and offered her the vial. 

“Drink it all and you’ll have legs in no time.”

Sonia took the vial and looked at it from a few different angles before placing it to her lips and swallowing.

It was terrible, almost intolerable, but Sonia managed to take it all down, coughing once she was finished. She was about to complain to Junko about how disgusting it was when she felt a strange tingling sensation in her lower body.

She looked down and gasped upon seeing that her tail was morphing into something else, splitting in half to create what looked like two tails. She wanted to squeal with delight as she noticed they took on the shape of legs. To be honest, she wasn’t sure if Junko had been honest or not – she was known for being deceptive. But here she was, watching her two legs form and they were beautiful and suddenly she couldn’t breathe.

Literally, she couldn’t breathe.

Her hands went up to her neck and she gasped, but something internally must have changed because only water filled her throat and it was incredibly painful.

She looked to Junko for help, but the siren had disappeared. 

Sonia looked around frantically for help, but she was alone. There was nowhere to go… wait a minute. What was she doing? All she had to do was go up.

She swam as fast as she could, flailing her arms and newfound legs up to the surface so that she could stop feeling like death. It took longer than she remembered, the surface hadn’t been so far away before, had it? Now it felt like it took years to get there, and words couldn’t describe the relief she felt upon breaking the surface. 

Air rushed into her lungs, causing her to cough up the water that had previously been filling them. It still hurt, but it was not nearly as painful as it had been before.

Looking around in an attempt to orient herself, Sonia spotted the usual rock where Gundam resided and swam over to it, collapsing on its side and taking deep breaths. 

She’d done it. She was here, now she just had to wait for – 

“Miss Sonia?”

A smile lit up the princess’s face. He’d recently started addressing her by her name and for some reason it had made her immensely happy. She still felt too shy to address him by his first name, and since he called her “miss” Sonia then she figured it was okay to call him “mister” Tanaka. 

“Mr. Tanaka! Come quick!”

She started to pull herself onto the rock when she saw him hurrying over, a worried look on his face. She didn't usually call out to him, in fact she preferred to surprise him whenever they met, popping out from behind a rock or something. This unexpected greeting was certainly cause for alarm.

“Is everything alright?” he called out, “Did something happen?”

Sonia began to answer when she suddenly found herself exhausted and unable to speak. Almost drowning and then swimming all the way up to shore had taken its toll.  
Just as her arms began to waver, Gundam reached her side and noticed immediately something was wrong. 

Despite having never touched her before, he felt that this was an emergency and allowed himself to grab her arms and pull her up onto the rock. Though he’d never admit it, he nearly screamed upon seeing that her tail had transformed into human legs.

Had he been imagining it all along? Was he imagining this right now? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

Sonia, who had been gasping for air and attempting to calm down, looked up at Gundam and gave him a weak smile. 

“Look,” she said, “Aren’t they… lovely? Now I can… walk with you.”

There was an unlimited number of things Gundam wanted to say to her about this, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak. She looked so weak and she needed rest. Also, he just happened to notice she was completely naked. 

Trying to hide his blush, he quickly removed his trench coat and helped her sit up so he could put it on her, pulling it tight so as to completely cover her body. Sonia didn’t really understand, but humans seemed to wear clothes so she appreciated his gesture, even if it meant something else entirely. 

“Can you walk?” he asked.

She considered for a moment and realized that she actually had legs now. Her brows furrowed as she focused on moving her legs.

One of them tucked itself under and she managed to push herself up a little, only to immediately fall back down. 

“Do not continue!” Gundam exclaimed, “You will only harm yourself.”

He got to his feet and then leaned over, sliding one hand under her legs and resting the other against her back. This was way too much contact for someone like him and he didn’t know if he could take it.

Contact aside, Gundam took a deep breath and lifted her up, finding that she was surprisingly light. Sonia made a surprised noise and squirmed a bit, not expecting for Gundam to carry her like that. But he seemed to have a safe hold on her and this was probably easier than her trying to walk in her fatigued state. 

“Thank you!” she said cheerfully. 

Gundam just attempted to hide his face in his scarf as he began to carry her back to his car, figuring he might as well take her home where she could rest and be safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY LOOK AT ALL THAT. Well that was a lot of stuff to happen in just one chapter, now wasn't it? But this means so many great things can happen in the future! Tune in because there's bound to be a lot of shenanigans.


	7. Dealing With Mortals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW so it's been forever since I've updated this thing. Like ten months I think? Well I really wanted to keep it going so I finally sat down and wrote. It took a while because I have so many ways I want this story to go, but it took a long time to decide which direction to take it. Now that I've decided I'll hopefully update more frequently. This is a really short chapter but longer ones will soon follow. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy!

To be honest, Gundam had never really expected to be in this kind of situation. He knew that one day he might possibly have to face off against some hellish demons or be required to perform an intricate ritual. But he’d never imagined he’d have to go home with a naked girl in the back of his car. 

The whole thing was still baffling him. He’d almost begun to believe that Sonia was some figment of his imagination, created by the overwhelming desire for human (or, almost human) companionship that he’d always lacked. Yet here she was, asleep in the back of his car wearing his coat and nothing else.

Perhaps he was as crazy as many claimed he was. 

Upon approaching his house, he noticed that the driveway was empty. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with explaining this to his mother, at least not yet. There was no way he could avoid telling her – he couldn’t keep a person hidden inside his tiny house without her knowing – but the longer he could put it off, the longer he could try and come up with some explanation that didn’t make him seem insane. 

A few cats reluctantly got up and scurried out of the driveway as Gundam pulled up, moving to the side only to plop back on the ground to sleep. He greeted the felines as usual once he got out of the car, only to remember that he had a sleeping girl to still take care of. 

She’d fallen asleep not long after getting in the car, exhausted from her sudden transformation. It didn’t seem polite to wake her up, so Gundam figured he should carry her in.

It involved a lot of awkward hand placement and constant blushing, but he somehow managed to cradle her in his arms while she remained covered by her jacket. She hummed in contentment, nuzzling against Gundam’s arm. The overwhelming embarrassment that followed almost caused him to drop her, but he managed to keep a hold of her, hurrying inside so that not even the cats could see how red his face had gotten. 

After fumbling around with the keys and keeping Sonia in his arms, Gundam pushed the door open to find several excited dogs waiting for him. They immediately began to bark and turn around in circles out of excitement like they hadn’t seen him in years. 

“Silence!” Gundam commanded.

The dogs instantly stopped barking but still looked at him happily, wagging their tails and panting. 

“I will attend to you all once I have figured out what to do with this… maiden.”

Several eyes followed Gundam as he carried the strange new person to his room, trotting behind him cheerfully. 

Once Gundam reached his room, he figured he should put Sonia on his bed so she could continue to rest. He’d never really had a girl in his room before, let alone one in his bed and the thought only made him blush more. 

The dogs grew impatient and began pawing at their master’s legs in hopes of receiving some affection. Gundam sighed and knelt down in order to pet the beasts, letting them lick his face and jump at him in order to get as much attention as possible. 

“Forgive me for returning late, my lords, there were unforeseen events that I could not avoid. Now that I have brought this maiden, I ask that you watch over her for me. I must seek the guidance of a female mortal as I am… not knowledgeable in this area.”

They only continued to lick at him and vie for attention. Gundam took this as a positive answer and stood up. 

“I trust you will be noble guardians in my absence. You will be rewarded for your efforts upon my return.”

He headed for the door, the dogs remaining at his bedside as if they knew exactly what he had told them to do. Gundam stopped in the doorway, looking back at his canines. 

“If the queen returns home before I do, she is not to enter this room. Understood?”

Two of the dogs, a German Shepard and a Labrador, got up and walked out of the room. The German Shepard sat itself outside his master’s door while the Lab went to patrol the front door. Gundam nodded in acknowledgement and closed his bedroom door. He considered locking it, but he didn’t want Sonia to become frightened if she woke up and   
thought she was trapped. 

“I will return as soon as I can.” 

He left his house and took out his phone, dialing the number of the only girl he really knew, hoping that she’d know what to do about Sonia. After several rings someone finally picked up and Gundam boomed into the phone before anyone could speak. 

“Timid One! I am in great need of your assistance and your knowledge of female mortals! Your experience with medicinal magic may also prove useful!”

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first fic I've done for Dangan Ronpa or SDR2, I hope you like it~ I really liked this idea so I just went with it! Will hopefully update fairly soon if I get some feedback.


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